Wednesday, 21 November 2012

In my kitchen - November 2012

In my kitchen we currently have vegemite and promite. Thanks to Kathryn I know that vegemite has less salt than promite. I told Sylvia. This has results in no end of fascinating conversations on the topic. I grew up on vegemite but prefer promite these days. E brought the vegemite out of curiosity. To me that is the sign of a migrant. No Aussie would ever wonder what it tasted like. We grew up on the stuff!

I bought some of these Cadbury's Marvellous Creations after being intrigued by Hannah's review. Unlike Hannah, I love the popping candy and could eat this chocolate by the bucketload. It was very sweet and moreish and full of fascinating textures. In the interests of eating this chocolate in moderation, E and I decided to try the smaller bars. However in the interests of our waistlines, we have not been buying even the smaller bars often.

I bought the Ghirardelli squares out of curiosity. It is a brand that I often come across on blogs but have never found in our shops until recently. This chocolate was far more grown up than the aforementioned Marvellous Creations. I loved the sweet caramel filled milk chocolate squares but also loved the mint filled dark chocolates. Yet you can have too much of a good thing. So we haven't bought more of this chocolate either.

I am a big fan of Emma and Tom's juices. They have lots of interesting flavours and taste great. So I was interested to see that they are now producing these Life Bars in a range of flavours. Predictably, I decided to try the chocolate one. It was delicious and a healthier chocolate fix than the Cadbury or Ghirardelli offerings. I think it is fairly similar to Lara Bars (US)and Nakd Bars (UK) in that it is mainly dates and nuts.

Despite my recent vegan cheeseexperiments, we eat a lot of cheese in Chez GGG. Unlike the UK where the Vegetarian Society wields some power, most cheeses in the Australian supermarket use animal rennet and are not vegetarian. We usually buy Nimbin Cheese from NSW. Recently we have been enjoying a new local vegetarian cheese that has appeared in the shelves. Sylvia calls it 'man cheese'. You can see why in the photo.

It had been a long time since I ate potato gems. Then I bought them on a night I fancied fish and chips. They filled a void. E and Sylvia loved them. Frankly though I doubt I will be hurrying to buy them again. They are so salty and need 30 minutes to cook. They seem neither healthy nor much of a time saver (mashed potato takes less time). But nice for a trip down memory lane.

These Twisties ghosts are a Halloween purchase made while shopping after work. The lesson is that I shouldn't go to the supermarket while tired. It skewers my judgement. I quite enjoy regular cheese Twisties. They have a pleasing crunchy texture though they are junk food through and through! These Twisties ghosts tasted more like flavoured polystyrene.

A while back we found ourselves in possession of a seed kid thanks to a child care fundraiser. Sylvia and I planted them and kept the baby seeds in a sunny place on the kitchen windowsill. I remembered to water them often enough. I quite enjoyed watching their progress. My mum has recently repotted them outside. I fear we might never see them flower as they should. One seedling has already withered away and one seems to be the food of insects. I still have hope and will share any flowers we might see. Fingers crossed! (Update December 2012 - our flowers)

I recently bought this glue in the supermarket. Have I been incredibly ignorant all these years or it is a new thing. It is blue when wet and clear when dry. This is great when Sylvia uses it as I can easily see if she has put enough blue on the paper.

My friend Yaz came to dinner this week and brought us some chocolate orange sticks. They were enjoyed by all. Even more importantly, he helped to attach the engine and tray of our craft truck. It was a very tricky operation of threading wire through two holes in a box that I had accidentally sealed without leaving space to get in.

Life is incredibly busy right now with holiday preparations. I have been meaning to bake but just don't have the energy. Thank goodness that cherries are coming into season. We bought some today after a long day of swimming and shopping. They were a highlight of the evening.

I do love these posts of yours :) We currently have Vegemite and UK Marmite in our pantry, but Promite is a rarer purchase - I like it too but will eat the three spreads interchangeably and quite rarely as they always make me so thirsty. Mr Bite is also a fan of that popping candy chocolate, and it has become a regular feature in our fridge - and he has tried that cheese but now I can't remember what he thought of it.

I am yet to try Ghirardelli or Emma and Tom's but have been meaning to try both!

Thanks Kari - I've never got into marmite - though yesterday in Scotland when I was trying to find vegemite I almost bought some because there was so much of it that it was hard to find the tiny display of vegemite. Highly recommend the emma and toms bars

I don't think I'll ever be able to kick my Vegemite habit! I've been hooked on it all my life and if I don't have any for breakfast I crave it all day long. I switched to Sanitarium Marmite for a while as it is fortified with B12 but it hasn't been available since the Christchurch earthquake. Vegemite plus avocado on crumpets or toast is my standard breakfast!

I remember the BluStick from several years ago when the young man was doing primary school projects but I definitely don't recall them from my youth.

Thanks Mel - I ate vegemite all my childhood and thought vegemite odd but was surprised how easily I changed when I moved to a promite household. I think it is one of the things that has surprised me about being vegetarian is how I have adapted to so many changes in my diet. Love promite and avocado. And sounds like Blustik has been around a while then.

We can't buy Vegemite or Cadbury products anymore since we worked out that the additives in them effected our son's behaviour/sleep. My hope is that one day the manufacturers replace or remove the artificial ingredients so we can enjoy them once again.. I really miss vegemite :( Aldi has non animal rennet in quite a few of the cheeses they sell.

Thanks Tash - that is a shame about the additives but you need your sanity! I've seen recipes for home made stock paste - maybe you could adapt one of those to make a salty spread without additives. I don't tend to shop at aldi but will check out the cheeses if I do get there

Hi Johanna, long time reader first time commenter. I think Devondale cheese uses vegetarian rennet, which I why I switched to it from other supermarket brands. Although I love the fact that you have Great Ocean Road cheese!

Thanks unknown - will have to check out the devondale - there don't seem to be many of the mainstream cheeses that don't use animal rennet so I tend to find ones like nimbin and great ocean road because otherwise I spend ages reading all the ingredients on lots of cheeses - though I think some of the home brand cheeses used non-animal rennet too

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.